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Just a quick upload of new tracks that I heard this week, a little all over the map..

First up, Sydney, Australia’s The Preatures. This group really wowed me last year with their impressive single Is This How You Feel? They are back in early 2014 with a new single entitled Better Than It Ever Could Be, and I think this song is even more excellent than the last one. If they continue to release songs of this caliber, than I would expect that this band will no longer stay a secret. Expect to hear big things from this group over 2014 and beyond…

Second. Well, that didn’t take long. One would think Interscope already had this one ready to go. No, while I think Radioactive is/and always has been catchy as sin – it has still been just a tad overplayed (Is it just me, or does Demons sound extremely similar? I guess that explains it’s choice as single #2). That aside, kudos to Imagine Dragons and their success this year.

Here’s the thing, I pretty much love everything Kendrick Lamar (and TDE), so I had to include this one. Furthermore, I completely agree that this was the best performance at Sunday’s 56th Annual Grammy Awards. Anyway, here’s the official remix of one of last year’s more popular songs. This one includes the new verse written by Mr. GKMC (Best Rap Album of the Year, sorry Macklemore), and he kills it. I apologize, however, as I’m sure you weren’t trying to go out of your way to hear Radioactive again.

Finally, and most importantly, I have included the second single of off Broken Bells’ new album After The Disco, aptly title After The Disco. The album is one of my most anticipated to be released in 2014 as I can’t lie, I think Brian Joseph Burton aka Danger Mouse is an absolute genius. He’s got the Midas Touch as far as I’m concerned. I just listened to the free iTunes stream of the album today and it’s so totally sick – it’s met and exceeded my expectations even on the first listen. While they just released the third single, called Leave It Alone, I actually prefer After The Disco out of the three released so far. And that’s saying a lot because there isn’t one song on the album I don’t like….

Bonus: TDE’s newest signee Isaiah Rashad put out his first mixtape/album/EP today entitled Cilvia Demo earlier today. It’s another great effort out of the camp – he truly fits in well with Jay Rock, Ab-Soul, Schoolboy Q and King Kendrick (not to forget SZA). I expect him to develop over time in the same way as the rest of the members, and if this today’s release is anything to go by, we’re all in good hands going forward. Trust the TDE, I know I do.

Talk about two guys who couldn’t have more hype heading into 2014. Momentum indeed.

First, Kevin Gates released not just one, but two excellent “mixtapes” last year, if you could call them mixtapes. The way I see it is that they were both pretty much two excellent ALBUMS. If you haven’t yet listened to either The Luca Brasi Story or Stranger Than Fiction, stop what you are doing, download these albums FOR FREE and realize you’re listening to one of the best in the game right now. Baton Rouge, Louisiana: respect. I’m not going into any of his specific cuts from last year, as I’m here to focus on the now and on the future.

KG has come hard out of the gates in 2014 with recent street single, Don’t Know. He expertly works autotune without making you roll your eyes. Could this be the song that pushes Gates into the mainstream? I think it has a chance, but we’ll have to wait and see. If he never blew up and just kept on keeping on, I’d be happy, but that’s selfish so here’s to a successful 2014 for Kevin Gates – if anyone deserves it, he does. I’m expecting a new mixtape album announcement in the near future.

Next, do I really need to inform on you on Schoolboy Q? Didn’t think so. Surf the web and it will take you NO TIME to find out that Oxymoron is on everyone’s most anticipated album list of the year – look near the top. Anyway, he’s been patient and waited for Kendrick to shine (and boy did he ever) – and he’s officially the next up out of the (amazing) TDE camp. His string of singles in 2013 was fantastic (see “Yay Yay,” among others) and it seems that having pushed out the album a few times (now expected on February 25, 2014) has only added fuel the the fire that is Q. On his most recent single, Break the Bank, he’s teamed up with Alchemist for another street banger. His best yet? Could be. But if you need an education, make sure you check out his previous independently released albums Setbacks and Habits and Contradictions. On to the show!

Oh by the way, here’s the deluxe edition album cover of Oxymoron:

It reminds me a lot of Young Buck’s deluxe edition Straight Outta Cashville album cover released almost 10 years ago (damn!) in August 2004. I loved that album, so I’m going to take the similarity as a good omen…